By Manilla Road standards, “The Grey God Passes” is uptempo, mean, and straightforward. Spiritually and musically, it’s closer to the quick blast of “Necropolis” or “Defender,” than to the march of epics like “Spiral Castle” or “The Ninth Wave.” Structurally, it’s less busy than the songs from “Playground of the Damned”. The vocal performance is notably strong. It sounds like Hellroadie on the mic, but I still have extreme difficulty telling Mark Shelton’s and Hellroadie’s voices apart.

“Grey God”‘s fleetness, combined with the relative track by track brevity that Mysterium sports, might presage an album full of similar bruisers. That would be particularly interesting when combined with the newer, thicker production job. Two songs sport six minute plus song lengths though, so Mysterium will still have the requisite epics.

Mysterion will be officially available on February 1st. It can be preordered from Shadow Kingdoms’ mailorder store, and the label is still promising delivery by Monday the 4th. (With the proper USPS delivery speed selected and paid for, one assumes.)